Toshiba NB305

Introduction

Oh netbooks. Those tiny little machines that closer resemble Barbie accessories than actual laptops are becoming more and more popular. Their popularity makes sense, for it correlates with how the average person now spends more time online than doing actual computing such as word processing, excel, etc. The typical netbook has disappointingly small screens, keyboards, and trackpads. Are all netbooks the same, or will the NB305 stick out from the rest?

Specs

1.66GHz Intel Atom Processor
1 GB RAM
250 GB Hard Drive
10.1 inch 1024 x 600 display
Windows 7 Starter Edition/XP with upgrade
10.5 x 1.4 x 7.6 inches
2.6 lbs

Outside

Its official name is the NB-305-N440WH, simply meaning this is the NB305 in white. The textured cover (smooth is the other option) for the front cover is breath of fresh air from all these other fingerprint prone gloss covers out there. Personally I would look at the black version, but chance are it is more prone to fingerprints. The body itself feels very solid, and somewhat back heavy (battery side). The bottom is not completely flat for the battery sticks out a tiny bit, but not nearly as much as the Sony W. The bottom has no noticeable flex, while the top cover has a tiny bit of flex; not bad at all for a netbook. The bottom has two nice sized removable panels that will make upgrading  in the future very easy. On that note, I would upgrade to 2 GB of RAM as soon as possible.

The front has an unusual amount of LED lights, 9 in total. These include the usual: power adapter, power, battery, hard drive, SD card slot, and WiFi. The added three ones include 3G, function key, and number-pad. The right side has the audio ports, two USB ports, power, and a Kensington security port. The left side has the VGA port, ethernet, powered USB port, and SDHC card slot. No real surprises here, the third USB port is a nice addition, yet I don’t know many people who even use more than one USB device on a netbook. The oddest part of the keyboard is the one thing that isn’t on it; the power button. It is placed on a horizontal bar that holds the screen on with two hinges. It is sort of hard to describe (look at pictures below) but it can be seen whether the computer is open or closed. Even though this button is exposed while the case is closed, the button remains inactive unless the case is opened. I was hoping that maybe it would be able to turn the computer on and off  when used with an external monitor even when closed, but this turned out to not be the case.

Inside

The screen is the typical netbook 10.1 inch screen. Without turning it on, you’d think all the screens on netbooks are made by the same company, but this Toshiba’s screen is noticeably brighter than the rest of the flock. The resolution is the norm, 1024 x 600, and because of the added brightness, netflix surprisingly looks pretty good.

Netbooks are not really known for their actual use, but this one attempts to cram a lot into the little space it takes up. The keyboard is  unique in that the keys are slightly rectangular. It is hard to measure because different keyboards have different placements, but this one is horizontally about full size. Keyword in that sentence is horizontal. The vertical dimensions do not match the horizontal dimensions which makes room for the massive touchpad, which I will get to in a minute. Toshiba shrunk quite a few keys to make room for the abnormally (compared to other netbooks) large letters: left shift, caps lock, and tab. The (well what I call it) squiggly key, which is normally next to the 1, is placed in between the Alt key and spacebar. Of all the keys on the keyboard, Toshiba may have found the one key that can be moved. Frankly I only use it at the end of an email possibly instead of a dash.

Now we get to my favorite part of this machine: the trackpad. In the rest of the review I pretty much only compare this Toshiba’s features to other netbooks. I am so happy with Toshiba for putting this nice of a trackpad on a netbook, I’m going to compare it full sized laptops. Other netbooks trackpads are terrible, and I typically despise using them. This one is so large it is almost as big as my Macbook Pro’s. Considering that the NB305 only has a 10 inch screen, and my Mac has a 15 inch screen, the NB305 has a much better trackpad to screen ratio.

Performance/Recommendation

This is a netbook. With that bias aside, this is a very capable machine. Just to fill you in, this bias includes underpowered processing, low RAM, terrible graphics, and terrible audio. This is pretty standard across the line, with very few examples that are notably more expensive. These are all things that need to be considered when looking at a netbook. The positives of netbooks are pretty straightforward: compact, light, great battery life, and typically inexpensive.

The question I asked earlier: should you buy this netbook? The first question is whether or not you are looking for a netbook. This may sound like a silly question, but it really is something you need to think about. From there, this Toshiba is capable of accomplishing much more than other laptops in its class. The internal hardware is nothing special, as a matter of fact it is pretty much identical to the others. What Toshiba does offer is the upgradeable option of Windows XP. Whaa? Isn’t that an outdated operating system? Old? Yes. Outdated? No. While higher performance systems profit from the newer Windows 7 operating system, Windows XP does not demand as much processing power, so it will run faster on systems that Windows 7 would normally hog to much attention from the processor and RAM. This is sort of like wearing a heavy backpack. If you’re looking to go for a run, you would run faster without the backpack. But if you need to carry a bunch of something, let’s say textbooks (metaphors for photoshop and other heavy applications), the backpack will make running much easier than carrying the food. Windows 7 provides a need to run large applications faster, but this is not necessary for netbooks with lighter applications.

Back to what this Toshiba offers. The keyboard is big where it counts. It is much more comfortable to type on than any laptop its size. The screen has the usual netbook resolution, but is very bright. The battery life is sensational, while not having a large battery sticking out the back such as the Sony W series. The built in speakers are pretty bad, but listening through headphones is above average in quality. Watching shows through Hulu.com is a little choppy, but movies and shows through Netflix works great. If this is what you’re looking for, the NB305 is the way to go.

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